Long ago, I was given only his year of birth - 1888. Now I am able tosee the actual record. Although my Italian is poor I see 31st of Decemberon the record. Was he born on January 1st to justify him being added tothe 1888 book?

The child was born in the night of december 31The birth was registered in the mornimg of january 2It is the first entry for the new yearI think this happened because January first is holiday, the registrar office was closedPaola

Is the reason his birth was not recorded in the 1887 record book due to thefact that although there was plenty of room to add it, the last page of thebook had all ready been "notarized" by the town's officials?

A birth was recorded when someone, usually the father or the midwife, declared it to the comune, bringing the child along. You had some days to do it, five if I am not mistaken. If the birth was declared in January of course it was recorded in January, even if the child was born in December

Number eightDi Pasquale Anna Maria1888, january 19 6.20 pm Di Pasquale Antonino, 37, landownerDeclares that at 9.20 am of the same day “del dì di oggi del corrente mese”In his house His wife , Orsola Lo Varco ? 32, living with him, “industriosa”Gave birth to a female child To whom he gives the name Anna Maria and who is the twin of another child who will be recorded in the next entry Witnesses Paola De Marco midwife and Giuseppe Espusito (Esposito?) contadino (peasant) The father declares that the child is the first born twinThe witnesses are illiterate so only the father signs the register

Number nineDi Pasquale Domenica1888, january 18 6.30 pm Di Pasquale Antonino, 37, landownerDeclares that at 10 am of the same day “del dì di oggi del corrente mese”In his house His wife , Orsola Lo Varco ? 32, living with him, “industriosa”Gave birth to a female child To whom he gives the name Domenica and who is the twin of another child recorded in the previous entry Witnesses Paola De Marco midwife and Giuseppe Esposito contadino (peasant) The father declares that the child is the second born twinThe witnesses are illiterate so only the father signs the register

PS I am not familiar with Southern Italian surnames , because I do research in the Milan area in the North , but I am pretty sure the surname of the mother is Lo Varco. There are still Lo Varco families in Sciara

I don’t know the meaning of “industriosa” in nineteenth century Italy. In modern day Italian language the meaning would be “industrious”. Perhaps someone can help here

I was mistaken in my last post. The birth must be declared within three days. But only workdays count

Paola - Thank you so very much. To see their actual birth record andhave it translated - priceless.

Yes - Lo Varco is the maiden name of Antonino Di Pasquale's wife Orsola.You are also correct in "Esposito" as the surname of the witness.It's nice to see not only that Antonino could sign his name, but thathe was able to go from a "villico" to a landowner.

When I have tried translating the word “industriosa” it comes up as “industrious” - which then will translate in English as "hard-working".If this is the definition it really doesn't help much. The earlier recordswill just use the word "domiciliata" as a description for a woman. I guessadding the word "industriosa" (woman) or "indomiciliato" (man) was a changeinto modern Italian?

My ggrandmother (Antonino and Orsola's grand-daughter) alwaystold us of the difficult pregnancy Orsola had for the twins. A 40 minutetime span between their births - OMG! The extremely sad thing isthey did not live long. Anna Maria - 2 days, Domenica - 1 day.

It is always fascinating to look into the past and have a glimpse of the lives of the people, things that you don't learn in the history books. Sad for the twins and for the mother , too. By the way "domiciliata" means resident, living atI have seen in the database of italian occupations http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.anc ... ngocc.html that "industriosa" could mean trader or manufacturer. It seemed strange that the wife of a landowner had a job, but if he was formerly a villico perhaps she had a small trade of some sort